Top Stories

Thursday, March 30, 2000

Bomber flights over area given Air Force's OK

By JON FULBRIGHTStaff WriterPECOS, Mar. 30, 2000 - The U.S. Air Force announced on Wednesday that
it has officially selected the Lancer MOA and the IR-178 training route
for use by B-1 and B-52 jets as part of its planned Realistic Bomber Training
Initiative.

But the RTBI, which would route the jets in a low-level loop around
Pecos, still faces questions about its effect of commercial jet flights
in the Lubbock area, and a possible lawsuit by a group of farmers and ranchers
in the Trans-Pecos and Big Bend areas.

In a press release on Wednesday, the Air Force said it selected the
Lancer MOA, which covers eight counties in the area between Lubbock and
Big Spring, and the IR-178, which will send the bombers over 11 other area
counties in Texas and the southeastern corner of Lea County, N.M.

In the Record of Decision, officials said the route chosen "will help
achieve the Air Force's goal of balancing readiness training with environmental
and community concerns. This action incorporates federal and state agency
inputs and public comments."

Comments were taken during a series of public hearings last April. The
environmental impact statement was released in early February favoring
Alternative 2 for the bombers, which will fly out of Dyess Air Force Base
in Abilene and Barksdale AFB in Shreveport, La.

However, Reeves County farmer Joe Vernon, whose home will be one of
the closest to the manned electronic scoring site the Air Force plans to
construct south of Pecos, said neither he or any of his neighbors were
contacted by Air Force personnel before the decision was announced.

"They talked about how many people they had talked to who would be affected
(in the February report), but they don't have a list of names of anybody
in the area they've talked to who would be affected," he said.

Vernon said he has talked with members of the Trans-Pecos/Davis Mountains
Heritage Association, which joined ranchers and environmental groups in
10 western states in a lawsuit filed in Washington, D.C. in January, seeking
to block training flights in those states. He also talked with Steve Uslar
of the Southwest Regional Pilots Association about possible legal action,
based on the Air Force's failure to talk with residents living beneath
the low-level flight path.

"We knew they made a decision to go with this, that was obvious. After
they do file (the final plan) he (Uslar) will look to pursue it on that
angle," Vernon said.

The objections up in the Lubbock area have led Air Force officials to
talk with the Federal Aviation Administration and with U.S. Rep. Larry
Combest about how to handle the problem.

"I have been actively working with the Air Force, FAA and City of Lubbock
officials to ensure that whatever the final decision is in regards to the
RBTI proposal, Lubbock's civil and commercial aviation will not be adversely
affected," Combest said in a statement last Friday. "This is something
I will be monitoring and I have been assured by the Air Force and the FAA
that we will continue to negotiate and have discussions in which all options
for the proposal will be fairly and openly considered."

In Tuesday's announcement, the Air Force said they would return 1,000
square miles of military training airspace in Central and West Texas to
the FAA that is not specifically needed to implement RBTI. Maj. John Boyle
with the Dyess AFB public information office said some of that air space
is around Lubbock, but is not part of the current talks on commercial flights
in the area.

"For years and years and years we've had three military operations areas
over those counties. They were part of the Reese Air Force Base's RTBI,"
Boyle said. After the based closed down three years ago, "Those three existing
MOAs have been combined into one bigger than what we needed, and they cut
off 1,000 square miles."

"We were giving back the 1000 square miles long before this issue was
raised," Boyle said.

If everything remains on schedule, Boyle said funding for construction
of the electronic scoring sites is in the FY 2000 federal budget, and work
would begin this fall. "If it all goes through, we're looking at flying
no earlier than late 2001," he said.

That would hinge on any impending legal action, and Vernon said area
residents would have to join with other groups if they are to block implementation
of the IR-178 plan.

"There are not enough people in this area to stand up and make a big
enough stink do to anything," he said. "Individuals can't fight the government,
that's why we're leaving it up to Steve Uslar and other agencies to see
what we can do."

The bombing run through Reeves County will be at levels as low as 500
feet off the ground, while the manned site and other area electronic scoring
sites would cost about $5 million to built. The Air Force said it would
bring 31 new jobs and an annual $1.6 million into the local economy.

"Nobody out of here is going to be used. They're going to bring in their
own people," Vernon said. "The only jobs will be construction, and that
will be only short term manual labor. There are two or three construction
companies around here and they may not even get the jobs, but after they
finish building, there won't be any."

PHS students ready to act up in San Elizario

By ROSIE FLORESStaff WriterPECOS, Mar. 30, 2000 - A group of Pecos High School students will take
their show on the road Friday as they compete in UIL One-Act Play competition
in San Elizario, east of El Paso.

The local group will compete against six other schools and they have
been practicing diligently in preparation, according to director Ben Price.

Price and teacher Sam Armstrong will be accompanying the group to competition.

Pecos' one-act play group will perform the play titled, Elektra.

"This is the story of the murder of Agamemnon," said Price.

The story states, that in order to get to the Trojan War, Agamemnon
had to sacrifice his first-born daughter, for the gods to fill his sails
with wind. Because it upset her, his wife, Clydemesta takes a young lover
after his gone to the war and when he gets back from the war they kill
him.

His surviving children, who are Elektra and her brother, Orestes, then
plot their mother's murder and that of her lover.

"In order to emphasize the war aspect and effect of war, we have chosen
to costume it in different periods throughout the war," said Price.

Open rehearsal will be held at 7:30 p.m., today. Everyone is invited
to attend.